But when the apartment market turns, no amount of property spin will save an off-the-plan buyer from negative equity.

The price of an apartment in Skyrise in Parramatta tells a story of the property market. supplied

A two-bedroom, two-bathroom, 71-square-metre apartment in the high-rise apartment tower Skyrise purchased off the plan in May 2015 for $767,000 has just been valued for the bank.

The valuers JLL have confirmed in a valuation report viewed by The Australian Financial Review that the new value is $720,000. A discount of more than 6 per cent over a three-year period. And the apartment is only just ready to be lived in.

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ING Direct Brokers instructed JLL to do the valuation and five comparable apartments were used to establish fair pricing for the fourth-floor apartment in the 40 story tower (which will be the second tallest in the Parramatta CBD).

JLL's report makes several comments that tell the story of the apartment market.

"Currently the market is experiencing elevated volatility since market correction and stabilising prices during the last quarters of 2017. Purchaser confidence has reduced with short term market uncertainty, supported by tightening of investment loans.

Best and worst dwelling prices for 2018 financial year. CoreLogic

"We recommend caution on sustainability of current market values ..."

The valuation is one of the freshest in the market having been signed off on last week and indicates that there is likely to be further pain.

Parramatta was in the top 10 worst performing areas in Australia for dwelling prices over the 2018 financial year, showing a 4.5 per cent fall.

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While overall apartment prices in Sydney are down 1.2 per cent in the year to date.

The drop in valuation at the Skyrise apartment tower is not entirely surprising given that the project's Mandarin-speaking marketer Macland Investment Group has indicated previously that developers it represented had been offering discounts of between $20,000 to $40,000 for $800,000 two-bedroom apartments.

Others have made spoken openly about it too, with Australia's biggest apartment developer Meriton having offered full stamp duty refunds for foreign and local buyers who acquire its new apartments in NSW.

Crown Group offered foreign buyers a 4 per cent stamp duty discount for its "Oasis" project.

While Sydney is starting to do this discounting, Brisbane has already been hit hard.

An apartment like this in Lendlease's The Green has sold for a 27.6 per cent discount on what it was purchased for and Kylie Rampa, the company's Property Australia division head, has indicated that Brisbane is the most challenging inner-city apartment market in the country.